Because I've Got Projects, And I Don't Have A Ton Of Cash

What Is Cheap Thrills Making This Week?

It’s been a week to take advantage of sales and cook up freezer delights. I’ve been using up on-hand ingredients, too. I have main dishes, sides, breakfasts, and fruit cups in the freezer, and plan on more this weekend.

I used nearly FREE Smart Chicken in two chicken pot pies. We ate one pie, and the other went into the freezer. This is an easy way to fill your freezer: cook once, eat twice or three times.

My Everyday Mac N Cheese didn’t make it to the table, but there are two sides in the freezer this afternoon. (I don’t use a “recipe,” just cook up elbows, make an easy cheese sauce with roux, milk and cheddar, and mix. This time I topped with crushed croutons.)

I packaged up some frozen veg blends for different meals. These are in foil pans with lids so they can be either baked with the main dish or nuked (really!).

The chicken sales this week were to my advantage. I whipped up a new Champagne Stuffing Chicken with some breasts:

More breasts went into a marinade of Italian salad dressing. They’ll thaw in the pan and bake up in about 20 minutes.

Since there were such great deals on fresh fruit this week, I made a batch of Frozen Fruit Cups with what I had to use up and fresh.

Eggs were a bargain the last few weeks, so I whipped up two pans of Frozen French Toast (doubled). With some of the sale bacon, this will be a nice treat on frosty weekend mornings.

I also prepped two bunches of “naked” Romaine, one for salads and one for sandwiches. I asked the produce manager why the lettuce was listed as “naked,” and he said because it isn’t in a plastic package. Good for a giggle.

Yesterday I whipped up some Krusteaz Cranberry Lemon mini-muffins. Got the mix on cheap discount at Aldi. I had one (yes, really, just one) and put the rest in the freezer. These will be great for breakfast with an egg, or with tea later in the day. I’m versatile like that.

Tomorrow I have some other cooking planned. I’ll be prepping Five Spice Pork Roast for the Crock Pot, and baking corn muffins (I so use a package mix x 2, but leftovers will go in the freezer). And I’ll be making my chili. There are so many preferences for chili, and I make mine different every time. It includes: ground meat (93% lean beef tomorrow), beans, a jar of salsa, tomatoes diced or crushed, and the variables (what I have on-hand). Don’t judge me — it works for us.